Why is the U.S. dollar the world's reserve currency?

In one Simple Term -> PETRO DOLLAR!!!

There is incredible research, documentation, and exploration of this topic stemming from the creation of the federal reserve going back to The Creature of Jekyll Island by Edward G. Griffin.

Here is a link to a video if you want a quick summary. Though do your own research :-)

Essentially, there has always been a “reserve” currency in the world -> which is determined by one primary factor = TRUST.

People believe that they can exchange this “medium of exchange” with one another and that people will accept it. As long as people accept and trade in that currency, it will be a reserve asset. As this is the case, the US was handed the beacon of reserve currency unofficially in 1913 -> more officially at Bretton Woods (1944) which was a delegation in New Hampshire that led to a US GOLD BACKED dollar where every other currency was fixed. Essentially you always could trade X of your currency for Y Dollars = Z amount of gold. This was a confidence machine, people knew they could redeem their dollars for Gold so they felt safe buying / selling / trading with the USD since it was “backed” by gold.

During the 1960s America was spending LARGE amounts of money / printing money / racking up debt during Lyndon B. Johnson’s Gun’s / Butter Program. Great Society - Wikipedia

Foreign countries saw America involved in these foreign conflicts / spending binges and decided that they wanted to have Gold instead of US dollars (since they were being spent everywhere / losing purchasing power). So they started withdrawing gold until Nixon completed took the US of the Gold standard in 1971. Essentially locking up the original system designed to keep a balance in the world currencies.

The purpose of a reserve currency is to be the “currency of last resort” ie. trust. So people would prefer to use dollars (all around the world) as it was trusted since the US always paid back it’s debts… The Term Full Faith and Credit (that is on every federal reserve note bill)

In 1972 America made a deal with Saudia Arabia (this is simplified) to exchange military protection / weapons / US Treasury bonds (ie. debt). For Saudia Arabia (largest oil exporting country) to sell ALL OF THEIR OIL IN DOLLARS. The rest of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties) followed along and TRADED ALL OIL FOR DOLLARS (HMMMM America has military bases in most countries producing oil….)

Essentially this deal created a MONOPOLY of the Oil trade denominated in US Dollars… Which means ALL COUNTRIES WHO USE OIL MUST HAVE DOLLARS IN ORDER TO BUY OIL….This is sketchy… so sketchy, and in business would be considered a MONOPOLY.

There have been a few attempts to come up with a new way to trade oil.

Muammar Gaddafi (Muammar Gaddafi - Wikipedia) in Libya wanted to create a gold backed trans-African country to sell oil… he happened to be assasinated shortly after.
Saddam Hussein - Wikipedia In Iraq wanted to create a EURO backed Oil Trade… he happened to be assasinated shortly after
Think about most military bases / American involvement in foreign policies over the last 60 years…
Come up with your own conclusions…

Right now there is a global power struggle regarding the “Death of the PETRO Dollar” with the rise of a Rubble / Yuan / Petra backed Gold / Oil trade in the works…

It is interesting… this is never taught in school and it seems pretty obvious that there are bigger agendas in play.

This is a deep deep deep disussion, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.